It may not be an ideal summer but it's not winter!

 Marigold from seed... I love planting them, they're so kind, they come up easily, they repel pesty bugs and they're pretty!

 Rhody rescued from the front yard... the previous owner didn't get it about rhododendrons, they're acid soil forest plants, they don't want to be clumped in potting soil in the hottest part of the yard!  This poor shrub was smashed down to about 2 inches by the epic snowfall last winter, but rebounded to give me flowers, soooo cool.

 The old cherry tree is bursting with flowers!  I can't wait to make cherry pie again, love this tree.

 Volunteer violets in the driveway.  So brave, battling off the dandelions and pushing up through the rocks.

Strawberries!

 

 Just a little proof that even if it's not bright and sunny here, we are having spring and summer!  Plants are happy, these photos are a week old and the growth is probably doubled on some of these, tripled on the potatoes in the buckets.  

Potatoes in buckets... the buckets have no bottoms and are in an old metal tub the guy used on the boat to store halibut gear.  I put the buckets in the tubs, the dirt in the buckets, the seed potatoes in the dirt and wait... when the leaves and stems get about 6 inches above the dirt, I add more dirt.  When the dirt gets really high, I put on another bottomless bucket.  After they flower, I lift the bucket pile off and out tumble potatoes!  The dirt falls into the tub and it becomes another garden bed next year... crop rotation means no tomatoes or potatoes can be planted in that bed so it's likely to be peas or kale or broccoli next year.

No photos yet... I have new neighbors that have an older lab mix named Melly.  Melly doesn't get enough attention at home.  Melly comes over and gives me wonderful dog love!  We hang out in the garden a little, she cruises the yard then goes back to her porch to keep watch. 

Re-used window porch done... except he thinks there should be a door.

 I built the wall from windows after much thought and over planning. I know deconstruction/construction isn't rocket surgery, but I'm not a builder so it all seems like near disaster to me.  Took down the fugly peeling paint rail and scraped the flaking paint into a shop vac so I wouldn't be spreading it all over the neighborhood.  Got two 4x4's from the dead fence that was behind the woodshed, bolted them in place of the short legs that were supporting the porch and screwed the windows to that.  I got the windows via a terrific small town web of communication...nurse at the clinic doing a remodel, windows being thrown out friend doesn't need them but thinks I might.

 The guy (in a pair of summer carhartts, Arvay) putting up rafters to hold up the clear plastic roof.  He asked the hardware guy about his greenhouse roof and last winters' snow. Hardware guy says his roof is on 2 foot centers and barely sagged... so mine's on about 8 inch centers, surely won't sag!

Valiant mower, too short ladder, awesome builder friend and sunflower in a pot...  and sunshine that's lasted 4 days now!  I am starting to believe it's summer.

 Tool shed cars...

Awesomely tall tulip that was watching the proceedings from a safe distance.

Sun came out briefly... grass is dry enough to knock down the dandelion population.  Both of my lawn loving neighbors have upgraded to riding mowers... and they have grandchildren.  I think it's really weird to hack back a CO2 absorbing plant with a gas powered mower.  BUT one of the neighbors asked if I wanted to use his old (gas powered) mower to do the dirty work and I did.  The 'lions are so tall the push mower was just knocking them over.

I bought the push mower a couple of years ago up in Whitehorse, YT.  When I was crossing the border back into the U.S. of A. customs said something along the lines of "you bought a push mower?!?"  Yeah... 'cause I think it's crazy to cut a small lawn with a gas mower.

 

Another cuff ready to sew together... trying to keep ahead incase I have to suddenly spend lots of time out in the sun.  Oh blogger... I said center the photos not the writing. Whatever.

 

 

I had to take a picture of this... there were actually more examples that got deleted.  I leave foot wear everywhere!  Shoes, slippers, socks all strewn about the house.  I've decided it's my way of saying 'this is where I feel at home'.  

 Last Sunday was the spring opening of the Extreme Dreams gallery here in Haines where I have my bead embroidery on display.  The opening is really more of a gathering of friends of the gallery for wine and snacks.  The past two years it's involved lots of warm sunshine and hanging out on the back porch looking at the Rainbow Glacier, but not this year. Brrr!

 I found some excellent pink beads in Anchorage, the Japanese bead makers have figured out how to make a colorfast pink!  Two Sitka Rose cuffs on display, the above on a rectangular form and below on the new curvy form.  Below are two of the others, ravens  and one with a big ol' rock and some pearls for wearing to that big soiree.

 I also made a new kind of neck piece on a brass form...compound curve makes for a crazy pattern shape!

 And when I'm not sewing beads, I'm coaxing plants to 'just make it a few more days'. It was warm in early April and now it's not so warm... the zucchini (below left) are gone now, it got too cold for them and their little roots gave up.  Thank goodness they're easy to sprout so I planted more seeds.

 The sprouts are in a small hoop house I made using pvc irrigation tubing and visqueen.  There are carrots and broccoli that aren't in a hoop house... I just hope it gets warmer soon so I can quit fretting over the babies.

Getting back to normal, coming back to life

Done banding birds, thank goodness. I have mixed feelings about the whole experience... the instructor was phenomenal, patience of a saint and an encyclopedic knowledge of birds.  We didn't have enough birds coming through the area for me to feel comfortable handling them, it's just too early and too cold in April in Haines.  The class room time was frustrating because Pyle guide is a giants part catalog written in a secret language...impossible to understand with out lots of bird time.

Aaanyway... getting back to normal takes a while.  Norman was actually shoveling the back yard out sometime around the last post... I am so lucky to have an amazing southern exposure so all this snow is gone except one patch over by the back of the  house.  There are actually starts in the beds he's standing near in these photos.

 New compost bin!  Old one is to the right behind the spindly tree. It has the best rich black compost in it, but if I start stacking the newly raked stuff on the old pile... besides the old "bin" is a smashed up chicken wire semi circle.  I hope the new wood one is big enough for all my composting ambitions.

 Making art dolls for hanging in the Golden Mouse gallery, Sarah doesn't want to overlap with Svenson's in art for sale.  That's good for me, more variety, more creativity, less rut!

 Bread with a small rhino.

Sunflowers and marigolds put out in the early sometimes warm spring sun.  Jars are night time cloches because it's really not that warm.

...and Biscuit.

learning stuff

How to read music... learning what every kid in the world tortured by piano lessons knows. Treble clef wraps around the line that is G and middle C is between the treble and bass clefs, how cool is that??

...and how to age/sex/band birds! Look up preformative molt... ooh my brain, middle C is much easier to understand.

home again home again jiggity jig!

Hawaii was grand but I am so glad to be here, spring is here and it's glorious and beautiful and... ok, so the garden is about 4 feet of snow away from sprouting but it's there, I know it is!

That pole used to hold my satellite dish, it's about 7 feet tall. Most of that snow was pushed there by the plow trucks that clear our road. The actual snow snow in the back yard is about 4 feet deep at this point. 360 inches flattens out to about 48 with a few seriously heavy rains.


That little dark triangle is the neighbor's jeep, they didn't use it all winter so it's just a little buried. They have a tin roof that shoots snow into the driveway, that and snow plows don't help an used vehicle!


This is the view of the Chilkats across the river from where I get my drinking water. Yeah, I have running water but it's from a brackish nasty well. The Mud Bay spring is where many of us get spring water for drinking.

This is another example of what a tin roof does...road is bare and wet, heap of snow might be giving the pup-dog a vantage point for another month!
This is the unmaintained portion of the road, the dog on the snow pile is just off to my left. This is 'the park road' and those drifts are what the local plow trucks have pushed up all winter... there's actually a driveway on the right during the summer.

It's hard to get a ride back to the parking lot at Sliding Sands after topping out at Switchbacks. People just don't want to stop on their way up the epic windy road!

Pictures for my northern friends...

Rescue board and life guard going out for the second time that day. The rescue board was broken in half after this event. They closed the beach to all but locals.
Sunrise coffee getting ready to hike out after the big storm kept us in the crater at Haleakala for a second night.
Silversword about to bloom. These things bloom once then die, they live to be about 50 years old so I feel pretty smug about seeing this start!


Red and pink hibiscus in hedges walking down Baldwin towards morning coffee.

And best of all bebeh Nene! Can't stop with the ugly-baby pictures.

Haleakala Crater

Just got back from two days/nights in the national park that is Haleakala Crater. It was supposed to be just one night at a rented park service cabin but weather kicked our asses into staying another night courtesy of the woman that had rented the cabin. She asked us to stay, Mr. Park Service Enforcement Ranger, yes she did!

When Norm didn't call his mom the day we were supposed to come out, she called in the posse. We got a lecture when we topped out at the switch back exit...but I'd dare them to say they'd have hiked out in the gale force winds that were down there. I know they were just doing their jobs and they deal with idiots year round unlike our Alaska parks but I will cut them slack about one minute after they cut us some.
The real rescue party, ready willing and able to come to our assistance.
Breakfast of champions our first morning in the crater at the Kapalaoa cabin...note the brilliant sunshine coming in the window. Not giving us a clue as to what lay ahead, good thing we fueled up!

The silversword are cross pollinating with another native plant up there, and we saw a couple of the hybrids as we crossed the valley floor. The hybrids are more green than the silversword and take on the yellow flowers of the other plant.
Here we were able to get both plants to pose carefully to demonstrate the difference between the two.

Everywhere there's a possibility of encountering the other critically endangered species (the silversword are endangered) the Nene, there are signs that say not to feed them. This inspired much Marlin Perkins style amusement when we got to our cabin and were accosted by a pair of birds.
They are related to Canadian Geese, don't migrate and are shameless beggers. Not a bad life soliciting snacks from tourists, but that "tame" quality nearly caused their extinction and they're still not able to reproduce quickly enough to keep their numbers up. Captive breeding is still going on, but we saw a baby at the second cabin!

The parents were a little less aggressive, they were busy guarding junior while he nibbled his way around the yard. They chased off a second pair that landed that evening.